Hard Time
' |image= |series= |production=40510-491 |producer(s)= |story= Daniel Keys Moran and Lynn Barker |script= Robert Hewitt Wolfe |director= Alexander Singer |imdbref=tt0708545 |guests=Rosalind Chao as Keiko, Margot Rose as Rinn, Hana Hatae as Molly, F. J. Rio as Muñiz, Craig Wasson as Ee'char |previous_production=Rules of Engagement |next_production=Shattered Mirror |episode=DS9 S04E018 |airdate= 15 April. 1996 |previous_release=Rules of Engagement |next_release=Shattered Mirror |story_date(s)=Unknown |group="N"}} (2372) |previous_story= Innocence Rules of Engagement |next_story=Shattered Mirror }} Summary A shaken O'Brien returns to Deep Space Nine after his mind has been altered to make him believe that he spent the last two decades in prison. Accused of espionage by the Argrathi, he was given the painful memories of a 20-year incarceration — the alien race's time and money-saving alternative to constructing jails — and released before his fellow officers could arrive to stop the punishment. Although the process took only a few hours, the effect on O'Brien is clearly devastating, and while he's told what he went through was not real, the memories are too vivid to be dismissed. While Bashir explores how to erase those memories, O'Brien must see a counselor to help him handle the intense psychological effects. Bashir determines that, since O'Brien was subjected to a time-compressed interactive simulation of the prison experience, it feels like he really lived those 20 years. Only erasing O'Brien's mind can eliminate the memories. Since this isn't an option, O'Brien is forced to tough it out, and he tries to throw himself back into his work and life with his daughter and pregnant wife. But he can't escape the memories of his imaginary ordeal and of Ee'char, his cellmate and only friend. As time goes by, O'Brien's nerves begin to fray. He imagines seeing Ee'char around the station, although he knows the alien wasn't real — and even hallucinates a conversation with him while sitting in Quark's. Worse, he begins snapping at others, including Bashir, Quark and Odo. Having learned about his behavior, Sisko relieves O'Brien of duty and orders him to resume counseling sessions immediately. Angry, O'Brien confronts Bashir for informing Sisko. Just then, Ee'char appears to O'Brien and encourages him to let Bashir help, but O'Brien storms back to his quarters instead, where he snaps at his daughter Molly and almost hits her. Upset that he could have harmed his child, O'Brien goes to the Cargo Bay, takes out a phaser, and prepares to shoot himself. Bashir arrives just as O'Brien is about to pull the trigger and engages him in conversation, causing O'Brien to finally reveal the source of his pain. While in prison, he killed Ee'char, whom he believed was hoarding food from him. O'Brien sees the experience as proof that his humanity is gone, making him a potential danger to family and friends. But Bashir reminds him that this memory is part of his cruel punishment at the hands of the Argrathi, and if he gives in to these feelings, they win. This provides O'Brien the strength to face his ordeal, and with the help of his counselor and some medication, he is soon on the road to recovery. Errors and Explanations Nit Central # Cableface on Wednesday, December 09, 1998 - 3:12 pm: Are we supposed to believe that the O'Brien we see at the beginning of the episode has accumulated 20 years of hair and beard? Maybe he shaved, but I don't really think the Agrathi would let him have a razor. Seniram Maybe O’Brien is one of those people whose facial hair grows slowly! (Mine takes at least a week to grow long enough for me to shave!) # Also, when he knocks all the cargo containers down, they sound and look empty.Maybe they are! # D.K. Henderson on Thursday, December 10, 1998 - 6:00 am:''Does the Federation have the equivalent of Amnesty International? If so, they really should have called them in on this. "We punished him because he was a spy." "No, he wasn't, he was just interested in your technology. He's an engineer." "Ooops! Oh, well!" They just left it like this! Their behavior was appalling, but they were never called to account for it! (At least not where we could see.) '''The Federation were probably told that they had no right to dictate how the Agrathi handle criminal matters in their territory.' # Phillip Culley on Tuesday, March 23, 1999 - 6:37 am: When O'Brien is charging his phaser to commit suicide, the phaser doesn't make the usual 'chirping' it makes when it normally charges. Perhaps it’s a new silent charge model! # Ee'Char tells O'Brien that he looks like a Reeta-hawk. Where would someone, or some programmed character, learn an Earth word like hawk? Josh M on Wednesday, June 14, 2006 - 12:10 pm: Maybe he didn't. Maybe the UT just translated it that way because it was the closest equivalent. That, or hawks are everywhere.'' dotter31 on Wednesday, June 14, 2006 - 3:56 pm:'' It's also important to remember that the whole prison experience was in O'Brien's head, so his head probably translated it for him. # John A. Lang on Tuesday, November 18, 2003 - 6:51 pm: Why didn't O'Brien tell anyone he was hallucinating earlier? I mean...yeah....I know it SEEMED like 20 yrs..but once O'Brien found out it really WASN'T 20 yrs., shouldn't he be a tad more OPEN to his "long-lost" friends? LUIGI NOVI on Wednesday, November 19, 2003 - 8:40 am: For one thing, announcing to others that you're hallucinating is not something people do willingly. Second, O'Brien was ashamed of killing Ee'Char. John A. Lang on Wednesday, November 19, 2003 - 10:53 am: Um..Ok..what about the Counselor O'Brien was supposed to see. Yeah, I know, he didn't want to go and see the Counselor, but somebody should've made seeing the Counselor a direct order to begin with....not before things got real bad. AND if O'Brien wasn't happy with DS9's Counselor, I'm SURE he could've asked for Counselor Troi (DANG! A missed opportunity!) LUIGI NOVI on Thursday, November 20, 2003 - 10:17 am: That doesn't mean O'Brien is going to tell the counselor that he's hallucinating, at least not initially, and not easily. # Cybermortis on Sunday, May 18, 2008 - 9:08 am: When O'Brian takes the phaser to shoot himself he alters the setting to maximum. However, at no point does he touch anything else to, say, disengage a safety device. So the Federation designed a weapon that can vaporise matter, is fired by pressing down on a small button like a remote control and didn't think it might be a good idea to make sure you couldn't accidentally fire it? He could have done this without us noticing, when he got the phaser out of the locker. Notes Category:Episodes Category:Deep Space Nine